Bright Eyes Preview: The Torii Arch

Waiting for next Seasons of the Sword book? Author David Kudler just shared this sneak preview from the next exciting installment in Risuko’s adventures:

Bright Eyes Preview: The Torii Arch

Continue reading Bright Eyes Preview: The Torii Arch

Join the YA Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This is my second go-around with this bi-annual event, which was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 120 hours! Continue reading Join the YA Scavenger Hunt

Review: Tower of Dawn is the eye of the hurricane

Here’s my review of Tower of Dawn,  Sarah J. Maas’s latest book. Have you read the Throne of Glass books? What do you think?

By the way, I avoided spoilers for the book as best I could, and have hidden spoilers for the series behind the cut. — David Kudler

In Tower of Dawn, Sarah J. Maas turns a corner from sprawling epic to thrilling psychological fantasy.

In epic fantasy, the action usually centers around outsized acts of valor and evil committed by prodigious heroes and villains. It’s true in The Lord of the Rings. It’s true in A Song of Fire and Ice. It’s true in the first five of Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass books. But the latest installment in the series, Tower of Dawn, looks at action and heroism of a different kind.

Continue reading Review: Tower of Dawn is the eye of the hurricane

Risuko Audiobook Now Available

I’m ecstatic to tell you that the Risuko audiobook is now available on AudibleiTunesAmazon, and Stillpoint Digital Press!


I’m so excited, in fact, that I’d love to make you an offer. If you send me a purchase receipt for the Risuko audiobook, I’ll send two download codes good for any audiobook on Audible.com!*

In any case, hope the end of summer is treating you well (or the end of winter, if you’re in the southern hemisphere).

Back to work on Bright Eyes for me! (By the way, thanks for the help choosing a cover — I’ll be announcing the winner in the next few weeks.)

David Kudler

[email protected]

P.S. If you’ve read Risuko but haven’t had a chance to share your thoughts, I’d love it if you’d post a review on Goodreads or Amazon or your favorite ebook store. Or you can even respond to this email and let me know what you thought directly!

*If you’re in Britain, let me know and I’ll send you codes good on Audible.co.uk.

Poll: Help us choose the Bright Eyes cover!

I’m hard at work on the Risuko sequel, Bright Eyes — and designer extraordinaire James Egan of Bookfly Design has come up with options for the cover! We’d love for you to help us choose your favorite Bright Eyes cover art.

Bright Eyes cover 1   Bright Eyes cover 2   Bright Eyes cover 3

Vote in the poll, and enter to win a copy of the soon-to-be-released Risuko audiobook!

VOTE NOW!

Continue reading Poll: Help us choose the Bright Eyes cover!

YA Summer Scavenger Hunt #4!

Welcome to the fourth port in the YA Summer Scavenger Hunt!

YA Summer Scavenger Hunt: Audiobook cover
Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale (Seasons of the Sword #1)
I’m David Kudler, and I’m writing Seasons of the Sword, a historical adventure series about a young girl who’s been pulled into a plot that may save Japan—or may destroy it. Along with another 138 members of the Alliance of Young Adult Authors, I’m participating in a word-search treasure hunt. Gather up the words, put them together to tell the story, and enter to win prizes, including free books and a $500 Amazon gift card. Read to the bottom to collect my word and get one step closer to the treasure. Continue reading YA Summer Scavenger Hunt #4!

YA Treasure Hunt coming in June!

In June, the Alliance of Young Adult Authors is sponsoring a massive young adult scavenger hunt — and Risuko is part of the fun! This is a chance to meet some new authors, grab a bunch of free books, and sign up to win a whole bunch of epic prizes!

RULES

Each author will be given a special keyword, which will be bolded and all caps like this: BUTTERFLIES.

All you have to do is visit all the author’s sites in this order, write down the special keywords to discover the short story, then enter the giveaway with the completed short story HERE (link will be posted soon).

There will be one main giveaway for the main prize, but most of the participating authors (including here!) will also have smaller giveaways for free books, Amazon credit and author swag, so make sure you read their post carefully to see what else they’re offering while you’re on their site for the keyword.

THE MAP (participating authors)

Continue reading YA Treasure Hunt coming in June!

Twelfth Night: Training Kunoichi, Pt. 2

I’ve always been a writer. But for most of my life, I have also been an actor. As a matter of fact for many years, I was a classically trained professional stage and screen performer.

That meant I had to learn how to use a sword.

I took classes in stage combat, but I also joined my college fencing club, picking up the saber (which was the closest thing to the kind of sword fighting I had already learned as an actor).* Continue reading Twelfth Night: Training Kunoichi, Pt. 2

Book Review: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

The Aeronaut's WindlassAnyone who’s read Jim Butcher’s books knows he loves his mashups. His Dresden Files combines a classic gumshoe-detective tone with elements and tropes from every type of fantasy fiction and mythology you can think of. His Codex Alera novels were inspired when he was challenged to write a mind-bending combination of prompts: the Roman Empire and Pokemon.

The Aeronaut’s Windlass, the fun first novel in Butcher’s new Cinder Spires series, is yet another mashup: a rollicking nautical(ish) tale in the tradition of C.S Forester’s Horatio Hornblower set in a Steampunk world where steel rots and electricity doesn’t seem to exist but the ability to use a quasi-magical substance/force called aether allows for interesting takes on familiar technology, and in which the planet’s surface is barely habitable, leaving humanity confined to spires — enormous, nation-sized towers built in the distant past. Continue reading Book Review: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

On Training Kunoichi

Twelfth Night and Kunoichi

I spent last night training a kunoichi.

My wife Maura is directing a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at her school. As often happens, I’m helping out, working with the actors on the language and teaching them combat. It’s fun to break out the scansion and fencing I learned as a young actor.

The students enjoy it too — though I’ll admit they prefer the sword fighting to the verse. Continue reading On Training Kunoichi

Seasons of the Sword
Kunoichi Companion Tales covers

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